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Lucy Liu Presents MTV Human Trafficking Documentary

Actress Lucy Liu, star of the new ABC series Cashmere Mafia, will present Traffic: An MTV EXIT Special, a documentary on human trafficking that premieres in Singapore today.

The documentary is aimed at raising awareness and increasing prevention of human trafficking in the Asia Pacific. The program is the lead feature of the MTV EXIT campaign across Asia and the Pacific, an expansion of the successful MTV EXIT European campaign that launched in Europe in 2004. MTV EXIT television programming is produced rights-free and free of charge for all broadcasters and organizations.

Lucy Liu joins other Asian celebrities, including Korea’s pop icon Rain, Thailand’s Tata Young, Greater China’s Karen Mok, and Bollywood star and former Miss Universe Lara Dutta, to raise awareness about this issue. A number of different language versions of the documentary have been produced, including English, Korean, Thai, Japanese, Mandarin, Tagalog and Vietnamese, among others. MTV is also working closely with broadcasters in other territories to produce more language versions with local celebrities.

Traffic tells the stories of real people who unknowingly became part of the trafficking chain, including Anna, who was trafficked from the Philippines and forced into prostitution; Eka, an Indonesian woman trafficked into forced domestic servitude and a life of slavery; and Min Aung from Burma, who was trafficked to Thailand and imprisoned for two years in a factory. Their stories are told alongside other people in the trafficking chain, including a trafficker from the Philippines who has been forcing girls into prostitution for over 20 years and a woman who runs a shelter in Singapore for victims of trafficking and other abuses. The documentary also provides information on how individuals can protect themselves against trafficking, as well as what people can do to help end exploitation and trafficking.

"Human trafficking has become a critical human rights issue facing young people across Asia and the Pacific,” said Bill Roedy, the vice chairman of MTV Networks. “Victims are subject to horrendous abuses, including rape and torture, with women and girls particularly affected. MTV EXIT is part of our commitment to highlighting issues affecting young people in Asia and across the world, and we are delighted that Lucy Liu is joining us and lending her powerful voice to the fight against trafficking and exploitation.”

Adapted from: Irene Lew,"Lucy Liu Presents MTV Human Trafficking Doc." WorldScreen.com. 20 November 2007.